Sentosa’s New Tanjong Course on Track

Singapore: Sentosa Golf Club’s ‘new Tanjong Course’ is on track to open in November.

Speaking at the 11th Asian Club Managers Conference, Andy Johnston, General Manager and Director of Agronomy at the award-winning club said the S$32.5 million upgrading was going to plan.

“We’re on schedule to lay down the grass at the beginning of August which will give us four months for the grow-in period,” said Johnston, of the club that is a Golf Facility Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.

Work on the project only began late last year with American Johnston overseeing what he described as ‘an aggressive construction schedule’.

The new Tanjong Course will bear no resemblance to the original layout which was introduced 41 years ago.

After more than four decades, the Tanjong Course was in need of an overhaul, due primarily to drainage and bunker failures as well as safety concerns and problems with flooding on the course.

Stretching to more than 6,620 metres from the championship tees, Johnston said the new routing has addressed all of the pressing issues.

Additionally, a state-of-the-art irrigation control is being installed while the club is also investing in a dozen robotic greens mowers.

The golf course re-design, meanwhile, will be both ‘bold and different’.

Among the notable features will be six tee-boxes per hole offering six unique experiences. These include ‘Junior Tees’ to encourage more youngsters to take up the game and play with their parents.

In general, the greens will be smaller than before while inspiration for the bunkering has been drawn from those on Melbourne’s fabled Sand Belt, sculpted by Alister MacKenzie.

Another novelty will be a double-ended driving range while space has been allocated for a new clubhouse, if the club decides to build one at some point in the future.

Johnston said: “The vision that we have is to create a new Tanjong Course that, together with the Serapong Course, elevates Sentosa Golf Club to be beyond Asia’s best.”

Other speakers at the two-day gathering at Orchid Country Club included  Oon Jin Teik, the Singapore Sport Hub’s Chief Operating Officer, Jeffrey Kreafle, General Manager at Congressional Country Club, and James Quilley, President of Emerald Golf.

More than 160 general managers from around the region attended the conference that was organised by the Singapore Club Managers’ Association in collaboration with the Asian Golf Industry Federation and the China Chapter of the Club Managers Association of America [CMAA].

The conference followed on from the first edition of the AGIF-organised Business Management Institute [BMI] course.